At Last
by Good Evening
Summary: Follows Zero and Kaname through post-Rido travels, details on the elder's marriage to Yuki, and Zero's to an unnamed female, ending in an epiphanic disappearance and a nostalgic visit to people who were more or less cut from the family picture. Swearing.


Regrettably, there is only speculative slash in this fic, one fairly happy marriage, and, at the very least, one slightly unconventional and short marriage. Prospectively, Zero and Kaname _did_ fuck around in the past, but this is a loosely scrutinising assumption on my part. The most I can see are a few moments similar to the hints of lesbianism in _Fried Green Tomatoes_, along with some pre-marital, back-of-the-car humpings. Given, they both appear only ambiguously bisexual, but I did my best to come with something, at most, slightly happy, and maybe just bittersweet and nostalgic enogh to pluck my heartstrings the right way.

A two-week-long journey: **enjoy it**. (teeth gritting...)

* * *

The party was just about done, the sun seen creeping curiously over the hills. Zero was resting in a long chair outside, watching the sunrise with slight interest. The French doors behind him closed quietly, and he set his glass on the ground as a body took the chair beside him.

"Happy last day single." Kaname said, glass in hand. The groom smiled, sin-glasses still on from a crude bachelor's party game. Then, he turned back to the sunrise, grinning brightly,

"Thanks. Never thought I'd live to see the day," His degeneration was no longer on a crash-course to blood-sucking Hell, but he knew mortality enough to not fear it anymore, and his wife was content with the fact that they were at least together, even though the formality of saying, "'til death", greatly understated their unique and terrifyingly human situation.

"It was certainly a good run while it lasted, though. I'm sure bachelorhood will be a lovely memory for you?" Amsterdam; Warsaw; Paris; Tokyo; he'd done it all and done it hard, and God forbid his wife from finding out.

"I'll hunt you down and kill you if that comes on topic near her." Zero said with a smile, not looking t the brunette in a way that emphasised the fact that he was as serious as a bloody hit man could be. Kaname threw up his hands,

"I'm almost insulted by that—God knows you tortured me, bringing up all sorts of things in front of Yuki,"

"Like Patricia?" the silver-haired deviant offered, eyes hidden by 'beach glass blue' lenses. The brunette stopped looking at his friend,

"And Candy, Luna, Marcia—"

"Marcia!" The hunter exclaimed with a large smile. They'd found her in Seattle, and were told her dream was to live in New York. They ditched their schedule, picked her up and drove her across the country. Both of them smiled, remembering the drive through Nevada and the blistering heat of the Mojave. Their very fingernails turned to dust, but one little oasis tucked behind some meagre scrub had, for some reason, seemed the perfect place to settle for the night. They'd made love together in the sand and built tiny houses of twigs for the 'fairies' to live in. Her smile was crooked and her brown hair ordinary, but her youthful eyes had reminded them, in their desolate weakness, of the woman they'd both loved, though in the end, Marcia had turned out to be something enigmatically unique and beautifully strange. But after they dropped her off, both he and his friend knew she would become a wonderful memory about which they would only rarely bring up. Because, in all seriousness, Kaname had believed on that trip that Zero and she would run off together. It wouldn't have mattered if they'd left him ass-up, alone in the desert; their happiness would have him laugh and hitchhike with a smile. The fact that the hunter couldn't in the end was the fault of his wrecked mind deciding it would be an unforgiveable betrayal to Yuki. As he aged, he matured enough to understand that he would always be able to love someone, and that, had he decided correctly, he could be with her this very moment, the happiest man alive, even if he knew his new wife would compensate for his shortcomings and tend to what was left of his splintered self.

"How is she?" he asked tenderly, taking a small sip of his champagne. The hunter looked peaceful, gazing at the rising sun with the fulfilled loneliness of a man who'd failed to forget.

"She's living in Connecticut, and the kids are going to a nice school, now." He truly loved her, just like he loved Yuki, and now loved his wife. "She said the twins are growing to look just like me, but in the picture she sent, they have her hair."

"I bet they're beautiful."

"M-hm." They drank a bit more as Zero thought about the children he would probably never see, and Kaname thought of two little girls who looked almost exactly like them. If he used the whole of his imagination, the conjured image was their little heads resting in his friend's lap as he read them a story, his own hand stroking their hair while he listened to the man's tender voice, Marcia being a memory reserved for the hunter alone, simply because he bore it best alone. So, naturally, in all of his politeness, Kaname restrained from broaching the subject.

Suddenly, he caught the other man looking him up and down. He'd taken off the glasses and was offering them, "You look good," he said as his friend took the glasses. The brunette settled them over his sore eyes and was relieved when the daylight faltered before their frame.

"Thanks." There was a moment of silent cerebration, and Kaname played unconsciously with one of his white lapels.

"… Thank you for the goodbye." Zero said quietly. The brunette had a solemn smile on his face,

"You should cheer up; you get to marry a lovely woman and move far away from this mess. If I were in your boat, I wouldn't shut up." The hunter only gave him a slight turn of the chin with a conjoined silence that said, _'Like Hell you would.'_ "Given," he added delicately, "I would probably just chatter to my wife-to-be, but I would, at the very least, smile." Zero grunted, shifting in his seat and crossing his arms,

"You did smile. It made me absolutely sick. I couldn't watch the vows." Kaname looked down at the glass in his lap, gently swirling the champagne,

"I know you didn't. Yuki was worried, so I went looking for you."

-

"Fuck off." Zero said, throwing off the brunette's arms. He tried each time to walk away, but the man kept up with him, and slowly dragged him back.

"You're acting like a child, and it's hurting Yuki!" He grasped the hunter's arm a last time before the man whirled around and shook him off. His eyes were wet and his hair hung over them, shadowing his murderous intent.

"**Fuck**. **You**." He said strongly. Turning and walking away again, he pulled open some random door, rushing into a lounge and trying to get rid of the hypocrite chasing him. Of course, the man came in right behind him, leaning in the doorway impatiently, watching over his tears and bent back disgustedly.

"I'm not going to give you a sympathetic ear if all you're going to do is bitch at me. Come back to the wedding, or don't: I honestly don't care. But Yuki does, and that alone should be enough." Zero was crushing himself into a wall, back bent uncomfortably as he hid his face. He'd known for a very long time that he would never be with Yuki, and as much as it appalled and revolted him—and she knew it, too—she had requested he give his blessings. That alone was enough to make him queasy. After this, the only thing that would be able to keep his stomach down would ironically be a hard drink, but it was a dry wedding except for some fancy concoctions and his jacket pocket flask. For this, he almost groaned, knowing that if he didn't escape now, he would probably drink himself into liver failure once he got home.

"Why the **fuck** did it have to be **you**?!" He said through his pants, still blubbering on the wall. Kaname walked into the room and closed the door for the illusion of privacy, and sat down on one of the overstuffed sofas. When he looked up, Zero was glaring at him in painful humiliation; almost willing the flesh to burn from his face. He didn't look away and he didn't bother offering anything up for the beast to shoot down: it was best to let a fit run its course.

Zero folded into himself for a few more minutes, a scalding scowl upon his face that would have any villain running from the room in a heartbeat. Then, he stood, wobbling to the chair opposite his rival, and flopped down in it lifelessly, hand tilted over his eyes.

"Let's pretend I'm calm enough to handle whatever witty comments you have." Kaname stared at him for a few moments before sitting up straight and getting comfortable, watching the other man like a distrusting hawk. When the hunter waved his arm out grandly, as if introducing some great presentation, it irked him for reason; he didn't want sarcasm right now. He wanted to be sitting next to his wife, entertaining their probably bewildered guests.

"I think you're being foolish, it's hurting those around you, one of those people is supposed to be someone you love and, for some reason, you don't care." The hand wavered for a moment and he saw the downtrodden expression in his 'friend's eyes. Truthfully, he didn't care if the cockroach was bawling: one way or another, they were getting back to the party.

"… I've been able to take everything up to this point. If she's willing to leave me behind, then she's part of a fine club. It just means I'm as useless as you thought." His head tipped back in exhaustion, chewed-up collar revealing his neck in a listless, apathetic way that suggested he sincerely couldn't care less if Kaname killed him right then. Which caused the other man's vexation to grow, being irritated by the fact that this _brat_ was taunting him with something so undesirable. It wasn't quite an insult, but it damn well felt that way, and he couldn't stop his pride as he attempted unconsciously to tear down the already wounded man.

"You're a fucking selfish child who doesn't want to grow up, and you're assuming no one must care for you because they prefer to divvy their time and spend it with other people, as well. If you want comfort, I can't give it you, but I'm here and ready if you need a good whip into shape. But, by all means, if you want to be worthless, stay here. I'm going back to the party to explain to _my _**wife** why her best friend doesn't want anything to do with her happiness." Oh, that was satisfying. To see Zero just lay there like a limp sack of flour was an enriching experience, but time and temper were short in supply, and he needed to get back before the dancing started. "So," he said as he stood, slapping his thighs almost energetically, "are you going to continue moping, or shall I have the pleasure of seeing her face light up when I bring you back with me?" Admitting that she did love Zero dearly was difficult, especially when he didn't think the bastard deserved it. He loved his wife too much, and many people would agree with him.

"… She asked me to campaign with you." Kaname was at a loss,

"What?" Zero glared at him again, showing his eyes and the depressed hatred still squirming viciously in the sockets,

"She wants me to go bloody campaign for you! I'm supposed to leave with you in October." The brunette stood, slightly transfixed and completely caught by the trampled look the man was giving him.

"Oh." was pretty much all he could say. Zero growled, but stood up, wiping his face. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but not to him, in particular. He left the room quickly, rejoining the party with the pureblood in tow. Later on, he spoke with Yuki in a corner of the room which was not being used, standing with her awkwardly under the dim lights as if it were their first dance. The other man looked on wordlessly, face hazy but displaying clearly the massive amount of anger and discomfort he felt at having them so close. With the ring on her finger, she embraced the man she hadn't married, and kissed his cheek adoringly. The hunter looked down at her sadly, and pulled her into another hug, then let her go dance with her father. He hadn't needed to look up to know her husband had been watching them, and simply sat down to watch the party go by.

-

"All in all, I think your wedding will go by with less complaint."

"Yeah, probably."

They sat in silent companionship for some minutes before the sun became too strong and their drinks ran out. Kaname began to leave when he saw the woman of topic coming toward the door, Yuki among her cackling crowd, giggling and smiling like a bridesmaid should before she saw the dress she was to wear. Surrounding Zero, they began to pester him, and as he fumbled with words and paled before their unnecessary laughter, the brunette watching it all couldn't help but snicker, too, and when his wife looked over at him, he felt as if he were seventeen again, shaking like he had before their first kiss. Her soft finger covered her lips,

"_Shh_," she told him silently, and he left in surrender.

The hunter was strangely dreamy standing on the altar, and Kaname found himself staring at the perfect lapels and strong posture; it was one of the most nerve-wracking days of his life, but the man was standing like some stony reverie, the music playing an eerie background to his odd abstraction. He occasionally made eye contact with a weeping Yuki and her husband, who was rather strained with an intolerable sobriety, for the moment. He smiled broadly at the older brunette, who couldn't help but feel something was wrong, though the wedding ended with the usual, over-the-top kiss and late-night partying. After that, they saw each other seldom, which felt strangely staged, and whenever they did meet, Zero looked tired, but his eyes glimmered with an uncanny illumination that remained to stun Kaname with the brilliance of that long-ago desert sun. Far-off laughter which grew grainy as the years passed, the sound of patched tires on a rough road echoing warmly, despairingly, nostalgically in his ears.

Six years later, Zero was gone. It seemed as if he'd disappeared from the face of the earth, although the wind occasionally carried the scents of his prospective mischief, rare moments in which the pureblood would dash out of the house or stop the car, just to see if the man were there again. His young wife was in a cold urn somewhere in Ōuma, sitting on a shelf with hundreds of other similarly boring, unimposing people. Nobody saw the body before the cremation, but to those who knew the game, it was obvious that no human could do what had been done to her. The remains were guarded in an open mausoleum, visited yearly by relatives. But Kaname did not once come, and he didn't go to the funeral or meet in reunion much the bereft and teary-eyed in-laws his friend had left behind. Instead, he visited incognito the bewildering bright-eyed girl the hunter had left behind all those years ago, and played with the little girls, whose eyes reflected the same pressuring heat and light of their parents, which never failed to send the strange man into a small, quiet fit. It seemed that they, too, could sense their mysterious father, whom they had only met rarely in early childhood, a fact which both burdened and encouraged the disturbed pureblood. They were absolutely beautiful, and he paid well for their education, seeing with nostalgic pleasure that they became just as resourceful and cheeky as their father. Which hurt, but he didn't complain much anymore.


End file.
